BARBARIC HARMONY >>>

The band Going Shopping joins Humble Cub tonight at Fulcrum Gallery for an ambient music extravaganza. Read Editor Matt Driscoll's take on the show here.

I found this Going Shopping video on YouTube to get you in the mood.

[Fulcrum Gallery Art Space, with Humble Cub, Thursday, March 11, 8-10 p.m., all ages, $5, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.250.0520]

WEEKLY VOLCANO COLUMN FEEDBACK >>>

Weekly Volcano columnist Geoff Reading (drummer for Green Apple Quick Step, New American Shame, Top Heavy Crush, Duff McKagan's LOADED) wrote about his first concert experience yesterday in his weekly Wednesday Reading column. We linked the column on Facebook, posting the question, Where was your first concert?

More than 30 people have chimed in with their first concert experience.

What was your first concert experience? Come clean here.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010 >>>

1. The crafty group Tacoma Is For Lovers hosts another Craft Night, this time welcoming Tacoma artist Chris Sharp who will introduce collage using a 1980s book on break dancing as source material at 7 p.m. inside King's Books.

2. Artists Sarah Utter, Karen Utter and Lynne Farren's Animal Abecedary opens at 6 p.m. with an artist reception at the Handforth Gallery.

3. The first Academy Award winner for Best Picture Sunrise will screen at 7 p.m. inside the Washington Center.

4. Fulcrum Gallery presents Ambient Night featuring rising stars in barbaric harmony Going Shopping and Humble Cub at 8 p.m.

5. Big Wheel Stunt Show, Paris Spleen, Handlebar Mustangs, and Brotherhood Of The Black Squirrel perform at 9 p.m. inside Hell's Kitchen.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010 >>>

1. The Purcell Brothers - Evan and Ryan — will perform at 7 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge.

2. South Sound companies that exhibit successful, innovative approaches to utilizing or developing technology for the purposes of business sustainability will be given SHIFT Awards from 5-8 p.m. inside the Theatre on the Square.

3. Fresh, the film that celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system, screens at 6 p.m. inside the Rausch Auditorium on the University of Puget Sound campus.

4. The Golden West Restaurant and Lounge presents Bluegrass Night hosted by Shotgun Red every Wednesday at 6 p.m.

5. Machina Mageddon, Fallen, State of Murdoch and City By Sea will rock Hell's Kitchen at 9 p.m.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010 >>>

1. Hazel and Vine play an all-ages show with Lybecker and The New Divide at 7 p.m. inside The Cake Room.

2. Pierce College Fine Arts Gallery shows Korean artists from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

3. The Auburn City Hall Gallery will hold an artist reception for Mick Klass and his urban night photography work from 5:30-7 p.m.

4. The Centre at Norpoint hosts a Beginning Climbing Class from 6-7 p.m. Participants will learn how to correctly put on a harness, tie appropriate knots, handle rope, use belay equipment and properly communicate with climbing partners.

5. The Hub hosts a Trivia Night with cash prizes beginning at 6 p.m.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

JAZZIN' UP THE PUYALLUP FAIR >>>

Jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and singer Natalie Cole will do the Puyallup Fair Friday, Sept. 17. Tickets are $60 for the Golden Circle, $35, $30 and $25 - which will go on sale Saturday, March 13 at noon at Ticketmaster outlets.

LINK: Stuff about Botti

LINK: Stuff about Cole

LINK: Stuff about last year's Puyallup Fair

MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010 >>>

1. Patricia Cosgrove, director of the White River Valley Museum in Auburn, will lecture on "Suffer for Beauty: Revealing Washington Women's History through the Study of Undergarments" at noon inside the State Capital Museum.

2. The Graphic Novel Book Club will discuss DMZ, Vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli at 7 p.m. inside the 1022 South lounge.

3. Community West African Drumming and Dance class will be held at 7:30 p.m. inside The Loft on Cherry in downtown Olympia.

4. The Al Earick Band will fill The Swiss with blues beginning at 8 p.m.

5. It's another Rebel Monday/Industry Night with DJ Jason Diamond spinning roots reggae at 9 p.m. inside O'Malley's Irish Pub. 

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

TODAY'S HAPPY HOUR DICUSSION TOPIC >>>

Discuss the video below over happy hour at:

Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub

815 Pacific Ave., Tacoma

(253) 272-6963

Happy Hour: 3-6 p.m., 10 p.m.-12 a.m. daily

Drink Specials: $3 wells, Bud and Bud Light

Food Specials: fry basket $1.95, potato skins $1.95, spicy chicken fingers $2.95, wedge salad, $2.95, fish and chips $3.95, cheeseburger $3.95, cheeseburger sliders $4.95, Irish stew $3.95, chili $3.95, irish bacon wrapped hot dog $2.95 - must order a drink with happy hour food

LINK: More South Sound happy hours

SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010 >>>

1. Now in its seventh year, the Old Town Jazz & Wine Festival will once again offer tasty jazz and cool wines, all in an effort to support the Tacoma Old Town Park Performance Stage Project - which aims to build a permanent outdoor stage in Old Town Park. The festival runs from 4-10 p.m. inside the Slavonian Hall.

2. Local actors bring Washington state historical figures alive to discuss unsolved mysteries during Ghosts of the Great Hall at the Washington State History Museum from 1-3 p.m.

3. A film discussion will follow the 1:45 p.m. screening of A Town Called Panic at The Grand Cinema.

4. Brooklyn Pool will play an all-ages show at 3 p.m. inside Rocket Records.

5. The Survive The Darkness Haiti Benefit features Kimya Dawson, Congratulations, Mirror Mirror, Western Hymn, and Rainbow Bridge at 5 p.m. inside the Loft on Cherry.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

BRING ON THE WEEKEND >>>

Is it that time already? Time for another installment of Prefunk - your weekly guide to liver destruction, local events and feelings of morning regret?

Indeed.

While I've spent a decent amount of time in recent weeks explaining the idea of "The Prefunk" to newcomers, I'm hoping by this point anyone interested has already caught on. I'm also hoping people uninterested in pictures of dogs and cats drinking beer or receiving tips on ways you can heighten your weekend event-going experience through glue huffing and Scope mouthwash Jell-O shots have already tuned out.

SATURDAY, MARCH 6

Brooklyn Pool at Rocket Records - 3 p.m.

The band was once called As Far as Foxes Go, and before that - ever so briefly - Bearfeat. In truth, though, none of that matters. The moniker is officially Brooklyn Pool these days, and together Morgan Brown, Aaron Sweet and Jesse Goodrum are churning out some of our area's most intriguing indie pop. The melodies seal the deal. Saturday the kiddies get a chance to have at it, as Brooklyn Pool plays an all ages show at Sixth Avenue's Rocket Records.

PREFUNK: Here's a novel idea - make THIS your prefeunk. It's early enough, right? Getting totally wasted before a 3 p.m. all ages show would be moderately disgraceful, right?

Of course.

Here's what you do: The court ordered you to see your kids. This is a fact. It's also a fact that one of the main reasons you're in this predicament in the first place is you loved going to rock shows way more than being married to your crazy ex. Rub it in his/her face by taking the wee-ones out to a show that will surely sculpt their minds in a much more positive fashion than listening to mom and dad argue about dad's Adult Friend Finder account.

SUNDAY, MARCH 7

4X4 Off Road and High Performance Meet at the Puyallup Fair & Events Center - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday is the perfect day for off roading - or, at the every least, heading to the Puyallup Fair Grounds to get an off roading boner with a bunch of Carhartt partial, like minded folks.

Big tires. Big trucks. A love of mud. These are your people. Indulge.

PREFUNK: The event is associated with the Moonshiners Jeep Club - based out of Spanaway. The club emblem even features an old, bearded, Yosemite Sam looking dude bouncing out of the back of a jeep with a moonshine jug in hand.

Rather than spending too much time wondering about whether moonshiners should actually operate a jeep club, just join in the fun. Make some hard-hitting hooch in your tub (I hear in prison they use urine), guzzle down an old mason jar full of the stuff, and head on over to Puyallup. Once there, be sure to use the phrase, "down by the river" a lot - and get some mud on your clothes.

The good news is, by this point, that bathtub hooch should have hit and there's a good chance you will have already fallen on your ass heading into the fair grounds - thus accomplishing the dirty, off roader look. Well done.

See you next week.